King's Elites announced

Virtually encompassing its own A-Z of sporting disciplines -from American Football to Waterpolo - 19 separate sports are represented.

Drawn from an extremely competitive and high-quality field of student applicants over 14 of the scholarship athletes have previous international representation at either senior, junior, or age-group level,whilst a further nine Elites are competing in their chosen sport at top domestic or national level.

Within this talented group it is two of British athletics emerging names that receive the highest scholarship awards. Sprinters Dina Asher Smith (History)and Laviai Nielsen (Geography) have both started  their studies at King’s this month following strong performances on the track over the summer. Both were part of the Great Britain Junior team that travelled to the IAAF Junior World Championships held in Eugene, USA back in July. Here, Laviai raced to a silver medal in the Women’s 4x400m relay, whilst Dina took the top spot on the podium in the final of the Women’s 100m. Only two weeks later Dina translated her excellent form at senior level on a day when she both qualified for the final of the Women’s 200m at the European Championships, setting a new British Junior record in the process, and confirmed her place at King’s.

The awards to Dina and Laviai mean that athletics is among the best-represented sports, having contributed 4 athletes to the programme in 2014/15; the quartet being completed by Nigerian sprinter Femi Owolade, who arrives to study an MA in Medical Ethics and Law, and 18-year old GB cross-country and mountain runner Max Nicholls studying dentistry.

These are joined by further strong contingents from rugby (4 athletes) and triathlon (3 athletes), with the latter including 2013/14 King’s Elite Richard Higgs, who will races today (Saturday, 18th October) at the European Middle Distance Triathlon Championships in Majorca.

Hockey continues to go from strength to strength across the College with 5 players being awarded scholarships – the highest number from any sport this year.

The strong numbers from rugby, hockey and rowing ensure that all 3 Focus Sports are represented in the Elites programme, and whilst the aim of the Focus Sport programme has been recently expanded to prioritise club development at all levels, the recognition of performing club athletes highlights the ambition and sporting levels being achieved by student teams at the College.

King’s Sport Performance Teams will also feature a number of Elite programme students with the Women’s Basketball, Netball (GKT) and Men’s Volleyball teams, all containing King’s Elites this year.

Announcing the awards, Head of Sport and Health & Wellbeing, Andy Allford said:

“I want to congratulate our new King’s Elites – King’s Sport are delighted to welcome 33 of our highest performing students in 2014/15 into our community and we look forward to working with and supporting you all through the year. Applications this year were the most competitive to date, and I would like to extend my thanks to all who applied.

Every year the King’s Elite programme continues to develop, and it is extremely encouraging to be recognising such a large number of student-athletes competing across such a broad spectrum of sports.”

Now in its third cycle the King’s Elites programme has seen continued success, growing year-on-year from an initial 11 scholarship athletes in 2012/13 to the current 33 students recognised in 2014/15. With a number of Elites have gone on to develop their careers as professional sportsmen and women, the belief is that our students will continue to further their achievements and enjoy the same successes through the support of the King’s Elite programme in the upcoming 12 months.